UK sexual harassment scandal claims ‘first scalp’

UK

British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon resigned Wednesday after earlier this week admitting to making unwanted advances toward a journalist in 2002. The British press foreshadowed more resignations to come as sexual harassment allegations continue to rock Westminster, with both the Telegraph and the Mail referring to Fallon's resignation as the "first scalp." The Times reported No. 10 "fears more ministers maybe be forced out by growing scandal." The Sun went with a pun: "Fallon his sword."

Germany

Much of the German press reported on President Donald Trump's move to get rid of the U.S. diversity visa lottery in the aftermath of Tuesday's terror attack in New York City, in which a migrant from Uzbekistan who arrived in the U.S. under the scheme killed eight people. The Süddeutsche Zeitung led with: "Trump demands more control." Welt and Tagesspiegel deployed similar headlines. Frankfurter Allgemeine reported the attacker had been planning the assault for an extended period of time.

France

Le Figaro reported on the Macron government's plans to reform how merits are granted for civilian and military distinctions. Libération reported on Tuesday's terror attack in New York. It featured a photograph of the attacker with the headline: "Attack in New York: ISIS after ISIS."

Spain

Catalan leaders will appear in court in Spain on Thursday facing rebellion and sedition charges filed by the Spanish attorney general. El País wrote: "The independence must respond to justice today." ABC reported on an order to detain former Catalan regional President Carles Puigdemont, currently in Belgium, if he fails to return to Spain to face the charges. "Puigdemont forces his arrest and abandons the government before the judge," El Mundo reported.

Belgium

Le Soir reported on Ryanair's plan to raise salaries "to calm pilots" at the low-cost airline. De Morgen reported on a plan by Flemish universities to introduce placement tests for all incoming students to ensure they enrol "in the right class," according to the universities of Leuven and Gent. De Standaard noted that fewer babies with Down syndrome are being born in Flanders. Last year 31 babies were born with the condition, 30 percent fewer than the year before.

Italy

La Repubblica featured an investigation on the role played by the University of Cambridge in the murder of student Giulio Regeni in 2016 in Cairo, claiming the university misled Regeni about the risks of traveling to the city and conducting research there. Corriere della Sera focused on the terror attack in New York City, as did Libero, a right wing publication, which led with: “Out of the way with the Islamists.”